h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Prideth Hi tonsil

'Fan mail from strangers'

The Mail on Sunday isn't reported on the 'net. It's probably not interesting enough

Personalised stationary? No. Signed? Yes!

No, it's not gone to the Police, but it has gone to our Legal section. The chap put his name and address on it. The letter has two parts, one a name-calling one to me, the other, although it has my name on it, is a two page general rant about the state of the nation. When I heard of the article at first, it never occurred to me that it might generate this kind of response. In retrospect, the author encouraged people to write to authorities, so perhaps it's not that surprising after all.

This is the scheme the article was rubbishing.

http://www.kerbcraft.org.uk/

Mornin' Z and tonsil

Just checked out the link, and it's a wonderful scheme which should be rolled out to every borough! Oh, it started in Drumchapel, Glasgow, and designed by Strathclyde Uni!? We Scots get the odd good idea sometimes! Seriously though, I don't understand how anyone, (that reporter!) could possibly rubbish such a scheme???

I hope your Legal Team take them all the way for this, and the so-called reporter gets his too for inciting such unfounded damaging drivel!!!

All power to ya Z !

Prideth

Yes, it's a great idea. The reporter said it was something like fatuous and rubbished one of the risk assessments, particularly singling out the procedure to make sure that parked cars aren't going to start moving (the children check to see if there are drivers in them and for signs like exhaust gas and indicators showing). We thought that in the interview he was negative and cynical.

I don't think we're going to be doing anything about the reporter. We will write to the author of the offensive letter, probably, but it won't be me.

We did get two lovely enthusiastic and capable people out of the interviews.

We're going for an office meal this evening and both out new recruits are coming - and so is the person who left.

The proverbial "Silver lining!"

Have a smashin' time this evenin' Z !

Prideth

"Yes, it's a great idea. The reporter said it was something like fatuous and rubbished one of the risk assessments, particularly singling out the procedure to make sure that parked cars aren't going to start moving (the children check to see if there are drivers in them and for signs like exhaust gas and indicators showing). We thought that in the interview he was negative and cynical"


Those who seek offense rarely fail to take it.
One of my aphorisms.

To be fair, a reporter, particularly one from a rag, is paid to be critical.
Besides, some folks who like your program might hear about it because of him. The old "say anything, but make sure you spell my name right" thing.

On the other hand, I think it's insane that you have to teach children things that their parents should be.
"Paying attention" is one of the great lacks in dis woild.

Like the lady at our church who does poison control education for a local hospital, who is continually amazed at two things:
1. The ignorance of highly educated people about the most basic chemical facts.
2. The ignorance of people in general who believe that it is a manufacturer's responsibility to make things non-toxic. This is kinda difficult when the manufacturer is God. You can find enough stuff in your back yard to kill you without ever going near the cleaning fluids under the sink...

"Safety" as a government concern becomes paramount when you realize that most of the schools and churches don't teach anything except what most easily comes to mind.
The Media itself is very often to blame, also, as it deals less with common sense caution and more with sensationalism.

Of course, I blame the movie, tv and book weasels, too. They have no qualms about passing on bad information.

The reporter's main aim in his piece was to attack the councils (mine was one of several who were named in the piece, which was entitled 'Why won't they give me a job in the Joke Factory?' - I can't remember which authority the 'Joke Factory' was, but the implication was that all of them were joke factories). I don't think I can be accused of 'seeking offense'. Or have I misinterpreted what you said?

Yes, it is sad that we have to teach children what their parents should be teaching them. However, the fact remains that their parents often don't teach them properly, if at all. This is a research project, looking to see if by teaching children at an earlier age, it means that they will be less likely to be involved in a road injury later in life.

"Those who seek offense rarely fail to take it."

refers to the reporter. He had to support his thesis, or at least that of his editor.

Yes, that struck me too. He said in the piece that he thought we were 'nice' and 'enthusiastic' and commented that he 'began to feel guilty for stringing us along' until he heard the dreaded 'D' word. 'D' for 'diversity'. Well, we do have a diverse community - not just racially, but we have a high proportion of disabled people, and their needs have to be recognised too. So he found a hook to pin his article on. I think honestly without that he would have been sunk.

Wonder what he would have thought of the Balfour Act of 1902...?

Cultural stupidity sells. Particularly when you think that every different language has it's own newspapers. If everyone on the planet spoke the same language, many of those rags whose only noticeable feature is their monolinguistic talents wouldnt withstand comparison with the better papers.

I think the same holds true with party and footy and page three papers. If they didn't have an ingrown circulation, they wouldn't exist. Aren't they all owned by the Italian Prime Minister, anyway?

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/education.html

Fascinating thing I found while looking for more information about the Balfour Education Act of 1902.

Still looking, in fact.

I know absolutely nothing about the Balfour Education Act, tonsil!

I'm just wondering what was in it that would cause the reporter to question it?

You're right about newspapers having specific audiences. Over here, many national newspapers are right wing - far more than any that are left wing. So the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Sun would be right wing, the Guardian and the Daily Mirror would be left wing and the Independent - well it should be Independent. Each as you say has its niche audience.

I can remember going for an interview and failing to find the Guardian, I bought the Telegraph. The person interviewing me said 'At least you read the right newspaper!' and I thought, 'If only you knew!'. I got the job.

The best I have been able to determine is that the Balfour Education Act of 1902 established government mandated secondary schools for the first time and removed the power over primary schools from local school boards and placed it in the hands "LEAs" and the city and county councils...

Oh. And that power has recently been put back into the hands of school governors (some of which do not really want the responsibility) under LMS - Local Management of Schools!!

From what little of what I have been able to learn of the history of legislated management of education in GB over the last century, it has been a long, strange trip with the lanes paved by a lot of hortatory manure...

Horatory manure? Clock poo? (or did you mean horse-poo!? )

I'm sorry. I meant oral diarrhea.

I thought I was saying hortatory....

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2003/09/15.html

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gretaham/Teaching/latin102/latin/subjunctivestuff/independent.htm#hortatory

Oh, having looked again, you did say hortatory - I didn't know the word (interesing for me, as I'm normally fairly erudite) and I substituted one I did know! Whether I will remember it is another thing!

"Fairly erudite" I'd agree with the middle portion of that word...


Anyway, the history of the philosophy of education is not the same thing as education.
Once upon a time it was discovered by several stray nutritionists that if you feed poor school children every once in a while, they seem to pay a bit more attention than when they are counting their ribs.

And the kindergarten movement was started to keep toddlers from having to lay tied to their beds while their mums went to work.

Whether any of this is strictly true, unless all the parents and politicians are at least as well educated as the teachers are supposed to be, or vice versa, then it all falls through.
If a child shows imagination in school, but he doesn't trip the trigger of the test examiner, then he goes out into the world to swim with the other failures.

Which reminds me, almost all the Clash were college grads, while none of the Beatles were and Ringo had almost no school at all.